Another stunning sunset: no two are of course ever the same, which means each and every one gives us the ‘wow’ factor!!!
We heard from Pepper’s new owners today: they are thrilled with him and judging by the photos they sent, he looks pretty pleased with himself too. We do miss him but are happy we made the right decision. Our management over the winter will be easier and he will possibly be happier too with so many more ‘wives’ to look after.
The wethers are due to leave us on Friday –they are off to friends down the road (Poole Batten Farm) to live for another 18 months at least before heading off to the abattoir. We (Jack) are (is) toying with the idea of keeping one here!! The thinking behind this is not quite sorted yet and might be less to do with good sense than sentiment… Other thinking as far as the goats are concerned is to sell Garlic and one of her daughters and so have just one Boer nanny (Onion) and female kid (Ryka or Terrell) and one Anglo Nubian nanny (Sorrel) and female kid (Coriander) plus of course Tarragon, our now wethered AN boy! Of course keeping one of the Boer wethers would balance the numbers here (a ‘totallly’ rubbish reason for keeping one!!).
Only having two nannies to get into kid would then make this autumn easier as we have to go off-site for the mating!
Garlic is the dominant nanny and if we were to go down this route it makes sense for her to be the one to go, as that way Sorrell and Onion may have more chance of bonding. The pecking order amongst the goats is obvious at feed times but otherwise the general state of play is that the ANs and the Boers don’t really mix!! At the moment this is fine as it is the summer. Once winter comes and they all have to be a bit more close and personal in the barn, the 'non-mixing' might be more of an issue.
It's not all about numbers, it’s very much about the ‘mix’ as well and as we know from our experiences with Curds and Pickle, the mixing can be the hardest to sort!!!